REVIEW – I just got a new vehicle so the timing was perfect to test the TRAPO S650 i-Sight Dashcam. The S650 is one of a series of dashcams by this manufacturer. The pricing is not out of line with other two camera dashcam sets with similar features. But did it live up to its price point? I hadn’t heard of TRAPO so I was eager to see how it performed.
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: Amazon: $130.99 with accessory plug. With hardwiring kit: $159.99. TRAPO: $206 with accessory plug. $249 with hardwiring kit.
Where to buy: Amazon, TRAPO
What is it?
The Trapo S650 Dashcam is a two camera, car-mounted camera set for the purpose of capturing hazardous driving incidents on digital video.
What’s included?
- TRAPO S650 front camera
- Rear camera
- Power cable to front camera – USB-A to USB-C
- Rear camera cable
- Cable management clips
- Electrostatic mounting sheets
- Car accessory outlet power plug
- Hardwiring parts kit
- User guide
- 1 year warranty
From left to right above: Micro SD card slot, Rear camera input, Re-set slot USB-C power input.
Tech specs
- Front and rear cameras
- 2k HDR recording (2560×1440)
- 60FPS front camera with 127° field of view
- HDR rear camera
- Night vision
- WiFi and GPS built-in
- Smart voice command capable
- Full time parking monitor
Design and features
- 2K + Full HD Recording: Front camera records in 2K (2560 x 1440), rear camera in Full HD (1920 x 1080) for sharp, high-detail footage.
- Super Night Vision: Clear visibility even in low-light conditions, including night driving and indoor parking.
- Smart Voice Control: Activate key functions with voice commands while keeping your hands on the wheel.
- Built-in GPS: Track your speed, location, and route history directly from the mobile app.
24-Hour Parking Monitoring: Monitors your vehicle while parked. Detects motion and impact when hardwired. - ADAS Support: Advanced Driver Assistance System for added safety alerts on the road.
- Wi-Fi and App Control: Connect via mobile app to view, manage, and download recordings.
- 2.4” IPS Display: Compact screen for easy playback and on-device control.
Installation and Setup
Setup of the TRAPO S650 was painless. I first planned the wire routing from where I wanted to mount my front camera to the ‘cigarette lighter’ accessory power port in the car. I next mounted the provided static-cling sheet on the windshield, then stuck the camera on that sheet.
I then ran the wire from the camera to the power source, gently tucking it inside the head liner at the top of windshield and along the passenger door frame, and along the floor to the console which holds the accessory port.
I did not have enough power cable to mount the camera on the driver side of the rear view mirror and run the cable along the passenger windshield and down the passenger door frame and into my console. So I mounted the camera on the passenger side of the rear view mirror. I had no surplus cable length at all, so it was a close call. I plugged the S650 into the round, multi-cable, car power adapter.
The photos make it look like I mounted the camera too low but I need access should I need to unplug and re-plug the cable, and my view is not obstructed much in this configuration.
I have a new car that has a very tight headliner. I was nervous enough trying to snug the power cable into the tight liner at the top of the windshield. When I found out how little play there was in that area, I was unwilling to force the rear camera cable into the same space. As a result I am only using the front camera of the TRAPO.
There’s a lot going on at the upper windshield of this Tiguan. I circled the S650 in the photo on the right. In spite of appearances nothing is blocking a clear view of the road.
I next downloaded the TRAPO phone app and set up its connection to my phone via the camera’s built-in WiFi. A couple of app set-up steps took some re-tries, but this was no different than other dashcams I’ve reviewed. The connection between camera and phone app was made relatively quickly and I started touring the app and investigating how to navigate to all the camera settings.
Performance
No micro SD card came with the S650 I tested. None comes with the set if purchased from Amazon so you’d need to order one separately. At the TRAPO site prices are higher overall, but there is an option to order a micro SD card with the camera order. At this price at least a 32GB micro SD could be included.
The main thing a dash cam user wants is for it to operate when it is powered on, reliably and unobtrusively, to capture driving video full-time. The TRAPO did just that, and never failed during my testing.
This and most dashcams record in predetermined time segments on a continuous, rotating basis. You can adjust the length of time but I left it at one minute segments. In the case of an accident the dashcam captures approximately the minute before, during and after the event, and locks those videos for safe retrieval. Those videos would not be overwritten during additional driving.
Here’s an example of a daytime recording of a drive.
The TRAPO phone app was pretty good at staying connected by WiFi to my phone when I used the app. The actual dashcam operates while driving without involvement of the phone app.
My main use of dashcam companion apps has mainly been to view and retrieve video segments of interest.
In the TRAPO app I just had to use the app to stop recording then go to Videos / List to see the thumbnails of the rotating 32 GB of content.
The night videos recorded by the S650 seemed very clear.
The TRAPO S650 has built-in GPS so it notes your location while it is recording and stamps that at the bottom of video segments.
The S650 is equipped with ADAS, or ‘advanced driver assistance system’ to warn of road hazards such as stopped cars, objects in the road or being out of lane. My car does that natively and I didn’t require double nagging so I left ADAS turned off on the dashcam.
The S650 does 24 hour parking monitoring but only if it is powered on continuously. With a previous dashcam, I kept draining my car battery to where it wouldn’t start my car with that feature so I recommend either turning off the dashcam when you stop the car, or power it by a source that goes off when the car is off.
Voice commands can be handy to invoke certain actions with the S650. The full list of commands is shown in Settings but I tended to use ‘Turn off screen’, ‘Take picture’, and ‘Turn on WiFi’ the most.
Final thoughts
The TRAPO S650 i-Sight Dashcam faithfully did what it is made to do, every minute I drove with it. My best endorsement is that I’ll keep using the S650 now that my review is completed. I can recommend it because it works perfectly as advertised.
What I like about the TRAPO S650 i-Sight Dashcam
- Easy to setup
- Easy to navigate the camera and phone app
- Reliable camera operation
What needs to be improved?
- Rarely, voice commands needed to be repeated.
- At this price point, at least a 32GB micro SD card should be included
Price: Amazon: $130.99 with accessory plug. With hardwiring kit: $159.99. TRAPO: $206 with accessory plug. $249 with hardwiring kit.
Where to buy: Amazon, TRAPO
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by TRAPO. The company did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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